Top Gear presents its side of story about Tesla Roadster [w/video]

Tesla has gone to great lengths to publicize its libel suit against Top Gear for the program's 2008 review of the Tesla Roadster. The suit claims that TG's review of the car was rigged, and its assertion that the car doesn't work in the real world had been decided even before Clarkson drove the car.

Until now, there had been no response from the BBC or Top Gear, other than to say they would defend themselves. According to Top Gear producer Andy Wilman, it's their policy to hold back any comment until the matter goes to court. Since Tesla has been so vocal about the case, though, Wilman decided to issue a response.

Wilman responds to Tesla's claims that the show lied about the car's brakes being broken, that its range is only 55 miles and that an overheated motor immobilized the car. Top Gear says the 55-mile range claim came from Tesla engineers who studied data gathered from the car after the test day. Wilman stands by his show's claim that the brakes broke, saying a blown fuse in the vacuum pump made pedal effort abnormally high, and that Tesla wouldn't let them continue the test until the problem was solved.

Whatever side of the matter you stand on, the facts of the case will have to shake out in court. The only thing that seems certain at this point is that the case will likely be long and messy. Click past the jump to see Top Gear's original review and draw your own conclusions.

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Anonymous

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

55 miles after flogging the crap out of the Tesla is still a decent range. 55miles for me means I can drive the car like I'm on a race track and still last 6 days on a charge. Yes I have a short commute but if you think I should be taking public transit then know that it would take 40 minutes by bus versus 7 minutes by car. Wish I could afford the Tesla...I could almost drive for a full month on a charge.

Anonymous

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

Obviously you missed that day in grade six where they told you that batteries lose charge in cold weather. It's either that or you missed the day in grade eight where they taught you that England is a damn load colder than South Carolina.

Anonymous

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

Tesla rates there cars for driving a normal 220 miles. Top Gear was doing track day driving. Don't you remember when Top Gear did the lap test with the super cars to see how far they would go on one gallon of gas driven hard. Most of them only did 1 mile per gallon.

Anonymous

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

Yeah, that is pretty epic. Crazy to see how much fuel the cars really use when driven hard. They also did a track race against a M3 and a Prius and the M3 got better gas mileage. But, it is Top Gear there are way to many good stuff from them.If you want to find the videos for Top Gear easier try : http://www.streetfire.net/

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

well, top gear is full of crap - they are basically saying that Tesla said it would go 200 miles so it should do it on track...why? Elise with SC will get 5mpg on the track too, not 30mpg as in specs... so whats the big deal?

half of their 10 minute report deals with this stupid crap about charing and how it would take forever to reach scotland with 55mile per chare, which is just crap.

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

It's not about comparing the Elise. It's about TG lying about Tesla's range. Personally I don't think tesla should even bother suing. Any publicity is good publicity. Unless they are asking for more....

Anonymous

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

I seem to remember an episode a few years back where they ran some supercars around the track to see how far they could go on 1 gallon (imperial) at track speeds. At least one of the cars (it may have carried a prancing horse but I can't be sure) only managed 1 mile. Seems like 55 miles on a charge is quite realistic for the Tesla.